Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge HarperCollins has agreed with an unnamed AI tech company to let the company use some nonfiction titles to train its models, 404 Media reports, but only if authors opt-in to having their books be used for training. Some authors are currently suing companies like OpenAI, accusing them of copyright infringement for training AI models on their works without permission.According to a statement HarperCollins gave to 404 Media, the agreement protects authors’ “underlying value of their works and our shared revenue and royalty streams.” Author Daniel Kibblesmith posted screenshots of an email showing that he would be paid $2,500 if he allowed one of his books to be licensed.Abominable.— Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith.com) 2... Continue reading…

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge A group of state attorneys general are pushing Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which has stalled in the House of Representatives thanks to concerns over online censorship. An open letter published today is signed by 32 attorneys general, including those of 31 states and the District of Columbia. It urges leaders of both parties in the House and Senate to vote on the bill before the current congressional session ends early next year.“While an increasingly online world has improved many aspects of our material well-being, prolific internet usage negatively impacts our children,” reads the letter, whose signatories include the attorneys general of Florida, New Mexico, and New York. “KOSA will establish better safeguards... Continue reading…

Screenshot: Razzlekhan A federal judge has sentenced Heather Morgan to 18 months in prison for her role in helping husband Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein launder stolen Bitcoin, CoinDesk reports. Lichtenstein has admitted to hacking the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 and stealing 120,000 Bitcoin, worth $71 million at the time (and almost $11 billion as of this writing).Before she was arrested, Morgan was a Forbes and Inc. blogger. When the Department of Justice announced her arrest, the internet found out she also made crypto-themed rap videos under the name “Razzlekhan.” The whole story is expected to be immortalized in a Netflix documentary series and a film called Dutch & Razzlekhan.Morgan issued a statement on X, saying she “will soon be telling my... Continue reading…

Corsair has upgraded its K65 Plus wireless keyboard and M75 wireless mouse so they’re Mac compatible with new colorways. | Image: Corsair Corsair has announced an updated version of the K65 Plus wireless keyboard it debuted earlier this year that’s now compatible with the Mac. It’s joined by a new version of Corsair’s M75 wireless mouse, and both peripherals are available in Mac-exclusive colors including glacier blue and a white version the company calls frost.The frost versions of the K65 Plus wireless keyboard and M75 wireless mouse are available now from Apple’s online and retail stores for $179.95 and $129.95, respectively. The glacier blue versions will be available for the same price, but at a later date. Image: Corsair The Mac version of the Corsair K65 Plus wireless keyboard is exclusively available in glacier blue and frost (white)... Continue reading…

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge The Department of Justice is planning to ask for Google’s antitrust trial judge to force the company to sell off its Chrome browser after the judge ruled the company has maintained an illegal search monopoly, reports Bloomberg.Chrome is the world’s most widely used browser, and the government’s lawyers have argued that its use in cross-promoting Google’s products is one of the things limiting available channels and incentives for competition to grow.Requirements that officials are preparing to propose include that Google separate Android from Search and Google Play, but without trying to force Google to sell off Android. Another requirement would say it has to share more information with advertisers and that it “give them more control... Continue reading…

Video editing is no longer limited to professionals with expensive software. There are plenty of great video editing programs like OpenShot and Shotcut have made it easier than ever for casual editors and aspiring creators to produce high-quality content without paying a dime. But with both programs offering robust features, it can be hard to know which one is the best fit for your needs. Here's a breakdown of OpenShot and Shotcut to help you decide which free video editor is right for you.

New V4 cabinet and Supercharger stalls. | Image: Tesla Tesla will launch fully realized V4 Supercharger stations that support up to 500kW charging for EVs and 1.2MW for Tesla’s commercial Semi trucks next year. Sites with new V4 cabinets are going into permitting now. When they open next year, they’ll connect the charging stalls EVs plug into with upgraded electronics that support faster charging on Cybertruck and other manufacturers’ EVs.Tesla started rolling out the V4 stalls in Europe and limited places in the US last year. However, their power cabinets are limited to the capabilities of V3 Supercharger stations that support 250kW max charging. The updated V4 stalls include new physical payment terminals, longer cords that can reach the charge ports of other manufacturers’ EVs without... Continue reading…

The liquid hydrogen-powered GR Corolla H2 Concept. | Image: Toyota Toyota is pushing hydrogen-powered vehicle technology forward with a liquid hydrogen system design that includes a self-pressurizer to save escaping gas and reuse it as fuel to increase engine efficiency.Toyota introduced a liquid system in the GR Corolla H2 Concept in 2023, which keeps hydrogen at -253 degrees Celsius during filling and storing in the tank. Hydrogen exists as a gas at room temperature, so the pumps have to operate cold to prevent the liquid from boiling. Inherently, the system still has boil-off gas that gets wasted. Image: Toyota Boil-off gas chart for the system. So what’s the solution? Toyota exhibited a “self-pressurizer” at the Super Taikyu Series 2024 race this past weekend that “uses the... Continue reading…

The US Department of Energy headquarters building on February 9th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by J. David Ake / Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy is fossil fuel executive Chris Wright — who has misleadingly claimed on LinkedIn that “there is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.” Hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, and other disasters exacerbated by climate change are already hitting the US. And renewable energy capacity is on course to more than double globally by the end of the decade.Nevertheless, Wright is a staunch evangelist for fossil fuels who consistently rejects mainstream climate science. While Wright also has ties to the nuclear energy industry, clean energy advocates say that with Trump’s cabinet picks, the US is losing ground in the race to deploy renewable... Continue reading…

Prices for components have risen over the past couple of years, making it more expensive to build and upgrade a PC. Of course, if you're on the lookout for good deals, chances are high that you're going to be able to find the parts you need at a price that's more to your liking. That's certainly the case with SSDs, as we're seeing an abundance of great discounts with these early Black Friday promotions that bring some of our favorite M.2 SSDs down to their lowest prices.

Sometimes, the best tech stories come from when a previous April Fool's joke becomes a reality. It's to the point where you'd be forgiven for thinking that April Fool's Day has turned into a corporate exercise to test product ideas and produce the ones that get positive feedback. Now, another "gag product" has become a real thing, and while it may look like an old piece of kit from the outside, this PC case can handle some pretty intense hardware under the hood.

Photo by ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images Amazon and SpaceX are seeking to hamstring the National Labor Relations Board, asking a court to declare its processes for upholding labor law unconstitutional. But judges on a three-person panel appeared skeptical when the companies presented their arguments Monday.In two separate cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the two companies argued that the NLRB is unlawfully forcing them to participate in administrative law proceedings over alleged anti-labor actions. The Amazon case centers around whether it’s required to bargain with the union at its JFK 8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, while the SpaceX case involves a charge by former employees who claimed they were fired after being critical of CEO Elon Musk.A ruling... Continue reading…